Daniel Kraus

Both of these articles are from an author and reviewer I admire, Daniel Kraus. He has reviewed Tap Out and Dare Me, and now Press Play. Additionally, as you’ll see below, he has included Press Play in a round up of titles regarding hazing. Both the review and the inclusion in the round up have me thrilled. I hope you enjoy 🙂

Press Play.

Devine, Eric (author).

Greg Dunsmore is 16, but here’s the more relevant number: 352. That’s his weight, which over the years has earned him the nickname Dun the Ton, but not a whole lot of friends. Fortunately, the one pal he has, Quinn, is a fitness fanatic and has begun to train Greg every day after school. It’s during a workout that they stumble upon the horrible hazing rituals of the championship lacrosse team, everything from stick beatings to being force-fed feces. Greg is a budding filmmaker, and with his new buddies Oliver (who is even bigger than Greg) and Ella (a hard-as-nails fellow video auteur), he takes to secretly filming the crimes. This is definitely a Devine novel; there’s so much sweat, blood, and adrenaline that you almost need to wring out the pages. Readers will need to forgive a late hard-to-swallow plot point, but once they do, it’s thrilling to watch Greg enter the lion’s den himself—the lacrosse team’s Hell Week—for the bruising finale. A tough, smart look at weight issues, self-respect, and our intrinsic desire to belong at all costs.— Daniel Kraus

Read-alikes: Hazing—the Game Nobody Wins.

Eric Devine’s Press Play is the newest from an author whose characters often fight from the fringe. Though Devine’s books frequently center upon sports, this is the first to focus squarely on hazing, which makes it the latest addition to a strong list of YA novels on the topic. These books are gutsy, gritty, bloody, and often shocking—but so is the crime of hazing.

Sure, it’s an uppity boarding school (the jocks here are fencers), but that doesn’t mean that all is cozy. Luke’s best buddy, Hayden, has always been the reckless top dog, but then a new hotshot arrives and steals his thunder. Soon after, the new kid is pushed from a cliff to his death by Hayden—either a hazing ritual gone wrong or a flat-out murder. With credibly written turmoil, Luke, the sole witness, is left to sort through his feelings and admit to himself the truth of what he saw.

Seven years after his dad died in Afghanistan, Mike begins receiving letters from him, delivered by an anonymous member of Dad’s former unit. These missives encourage Mike to embrace the glory days of high school, and so he tries, until a bully on the football teams begins to haze him. This is a literary, nuanced, respectful treatment of a number of complicated themes, from sports dynamics to the military, many of which hinge upon secrets that, should they surface, would have ramifications for everyone.

It could be argued that Lynch’s landmark book, told from the point of view of an accused rapist, is a foundational text of these sorts of books: fueled by adrenaline, morally inconclusive, and offering more questions than answers. Keir, a most unreliable narrator, is trying to defend himself against the accusation. But to the reader, it feels like the culmination of a long string of overaggression, which stretches back to a football-team hazing incident caught on tape. An unnerving study of how permissiveness of violence can spread ever outward.

Cohen’s stunning debut focuses on Danny, a star on the gymnastics team but a pipsqueak as far as the hormone-pumped, college-scouted footballers are concerned. A competition erupts between the two squads, leading to a horrifying instance of hazing dealt out to one of Danny’s teammates. Told from the alternating perspectives of Danny and Kurt, a quiet new fullback, this is a rich, disturbing tale of being trapped inside expectations and forced to continue the established order—or pay the price.

Greg Dunsmore is 16, but here’s the more relevant number: 352. That’s his weight, which over the years has earned him the nickname Dun the Ton, but not a whole lot of friends. Fortunately, the one pal he has, Quinn, is a fitness fanatic and has begun to train Greg every day after school. It’s during a workout that they stumble upon the horrible hazing rituals of the championship lacrosse team, everything from stick beatings to being force-fed feces. A tough, smart look at weight issues, self-respect, and our intrinsic desire to belong at all costs.

Aaron may be small, but his speed, drive, and wits have earned him a place on the hockey team at an elite academy. There, however, he falls victim to a grueling hazing incident involving sexual assault. In the aftermath, his world is thrown off balance, and he chooses not to report it—until a second attack lands him in the hospital. This may be a short novel aimed at reluctant readers, but Aaron’s tortured decisions, none of which are tidy, contribute to the complicated, agonized feel.

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I have been promoting Dare Me for the past six months. It was fun, exhausting and very rewarding. However, I am glad that the crunch is over. The time and energy it takes is extensive and wreaks havoc on anything else scheduled––you know like the rest of my life 🙂

That’s not a complaint, just a simple fact. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the craziness, and I’m fortunate enough to be doing it all over again for my next novel, which will be released in the fall (details to come).

Therefore, for those of you who might be interested, I’ve outlined all that I did, or that happened regarding Dare Me for half of a year. Many authors do more, and many do less. This is what I did, and I hope it illustrates the business of books on the personal level. Because trust me, if I were to write about the behind-the-scenes work, this post would have to run for a week straight.

July 2013

I didn’t get started until the end of the month, but I kicked things off with a bang, releasing my trailer for Dare Me through a blast, released by over 50 bloggers, worldwide. There was a copy of the novel and a t-shirt giveaway that netted over 5,500 entries. Not bad, right?

Then I wrote an article for one of my favorite librarians and her site Teen Librarian’s Toolbox, titled “Careening with our youth culture“. It’s all about why teens like to do crazy things, and especially why I felt compelled to do some of my own. It was paired with a giveaway, too.

August 2013

August is always busy, and so I only managed to release the flyer for all of my scheduled events for Dare Me. I put it on Scribd, which made sharing so easy.

September

My publisher printed 200 copies of those same flyers I posted to Scribd and I sent them to local high schools at the start of the school year.

I wasinterviewed by Kori Miller of Back Porch Writer for her podcast. It was a blast, and if you have a half hour, go listen.

Awesomeness hit in November when I went toNCTE. I signed copies of Dare Me and met English teachers from around the country. A couple of my colleagues even showed up, which was so nice. And then I met a few authors whose work I love, and I even got my picture taken with A.S. King.

December

The last month of the year started out fantastic with both the LA Times and the Chicago Tribuneselecting Dare Me for their holiday books gift guides for Young Adults.

Then I got to use my author status for some good by participating in a signing/fundraiser for the High School I work for at another, local Barnes and Noble. If you have kids or are an author and teacher like me, contact B&N and set up a Book Fair. So simple, yet so effective.

January

The American Library Association’s Widwinter Meeting was held in Philadelphia this year, home of my publisher, Running Press. Therefore, I got to go to the city of brotherly love, sign, meet awesome librarians, and then have a blast wining and dining with everyone from Running Press and some of my pub siblings. I even met Daniel Krauswhile at our cocktail party. I refrained from getting all fanboy and we had an awesome chat.

For the duration

I ran four giveaways at Goodreads, at various times throughout these six months. I now have only two copies of those I receive from my publisher left. But it was worth it, as close to 2,500 people entered the giveaways and, therefore, have Dare Me on their radar.

Now

Phew. That was a lot. Or maybe it was just enough. Possibly there was more I could have done. I have no idea, because that’s the impossibility of any business. Some analytics cannot be measured.

So what matters to me are the answers to these questions:

Did I have fun? Yes.

Did all of this enrich my life? Yes.

Would I do it all over again? Absolutely.

And I will, in another six months. Be sure to join me, and thank you if you did this time around.